Comments on: Ask an Army Colonelhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/
Blogging From the Five BoroughsThu, 06 Oct 2011 16:51:56 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.1http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/section/NytSectionHeader.gifNYThttp://www.nytimes.com
By: Lorraine Curranhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-577223
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:10:46 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-577223Why in today’s society are we still turning away the gay and lesbian solders that are trained and ready to serve their country, I don’t believe it would cause conflict in the foxhole, or in any other situation, I had been in the military and served proudly, and yes I am gay. No one could black-mail me or use who I was to gain any type of advantage over me for any military secrets or any other information for I would simply turn myself in and take the hit for my country.

When the above excuse is used it is as if you’re saying the Heterosexual Community is so weak that if they knew the person fighting beside them was Homosexual they would not be able to do their duties! Really is a ridiculous proposition isn’t it?

]]>By: samdonhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-577033
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:45:16 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-577033The dredging in Barnegat inlet in NJ has been going on for years and it is clear that every load of sand dumped to sea has led to a loss of dunes on island beach. Why not pipe the sand to replenish the beaches and to restore the dunes ?
]]>By: Charlottehttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-576783
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:09:24 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-576783Colonel,

I am a civil engineering student who is interested in international development and world events. This past year I have worked with a chapter of Engineers Without Borders.

As someone is both an engineer and an army officer, what is your opinion of development projects in conflict-fraught areas? I’ve read, for example, that a water treatment plant was built in Iraq, and that there are many other such projects going on.

Thank you for your service and your generosity in answering these questions.

]]>By: Paul Pullohttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-576165
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:13:21 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-576165Newtown Creek between Brooklyn and Queens was being considered for dreging by Army Core.What will happen if it is designated a Superfund site by the EPA?
]]>By: BHhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-576159
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:11:12 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-576159I live along the Kill van Kull, an area contaminated with high levels of lead, arsenic and other toxic waste. Starting any day now the Corp is scheduled to literally blow up the riverbed. Why should I not be concerned?
]]>By: michael stuarthttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-576143
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:52:31 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-576143It is my understanding that the COE is currently working to restore marshland in Jamaica Bay and is also involved with restoration of native species on hummocks in the bay. I am concerned that if there is not a plan in place to maintain the habitats and insure that the invasive species do not take hold, that all the work and money will prove to be in vain as the Phragmites and Mugwort etc. reclaim the
habitats.
]]>By: keith bassohttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-575759
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:39:49 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-575759Hi John,

just want to congratulate you on you great success and service. I hope you still get a chance to lace up the skates once and a while. You were a good goal scorer.

Your pee wee goalie,

Keith

]]>By: Larry Weinerhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-575653
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:21:24 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-575653Beach replenishment, putting sand onto eroded beaches, is used annually in New Jersey, Florida and other states as a means of coastline protection. It also provides income to the local communities from vacationing beach goers.

Please comment on the Corps apparent reluctance to allow replenishment on Fire Island beaches which ultimately protect mainland Long Island. The reluctance is shown in the severe restrictions and limitations placed on all replenishment projects completely funded by the local Fire Island communities.

In addition, when will the Corps finalize their study and implement its recommendations to protect the entire Long Island/Fire Island coastline? How long has the Corps been studying this problem?

I just wanted to hijack the opportunity to say THANK YOU
to you – and ALL military personnel – for your service.

May you and all of the men and women serving
so that I may be free be safe, warm, and blessed.
Thank you.

]]>By: MJhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-575207
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 22:55:31 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-575207Stamford Connecticut, is building some large billion dollar projects on the south side, many of them are outside or are built upon the flood/hurricane defenses built in the 1950s.

I’m also concerned about lack of effective evacuation routes away from the Connecticut coast. US 7 has never been completed due to NIMBYS, and local streets are perpetually clogged, imagine if Stamford had to evacuate due to a hurricane?

]]>By: Michael Auerbachhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-574427
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:55:35 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-574427From an engineering standpoint, what are the biggest hold-ups to completing the East River Greenway, a plan that the many elected officials and the City have repeatedly lobbied for? The West Side has an amazing Greenway down the Hudson River, yet currently, there is a large gap from East 37th Street to East 60th Street preventing passage to the south. This detour forces cyclists (and pedestrians) onto the City’s busiest and unsafest streets. In fact, the area around the 59th Street Bridge has one of the highest counts of vehicle to cyclist/pedestrian injuries in the City according to CrashStat. Concrete caissons, running from the East 50s to East 60th Street, originally installed for a temporary outbound roadway when the FDR was being rehabilitated, remain in the water. Yet they are set for removal under a strict NY State Department of Environmental Conservation deadline. Can the caissons be safely reused and incorporated into a plan to complete the Greenway?
]]>By: marie senillahttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-574253
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 14:45:29 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-574253As a member of the South Bronx community, I am concerned that the Bronx Kil, one of the supposedly navigable waterways which must be kept navigable is being effectively blockaded by Con Ed power lines.

I know they’re a big company and all that and that they have a lot of juice, but isn’t the law the law. Why didn’t they just bury those lines or raise them up or something for engineers?

]]>By: AdrianIUhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-574207
Wed, 02 Dec 2009 13:04:29 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-574207Thank you for taking the time to answer these questions!

My question regards the Park River Conduit in Hartford Connecticut. Since the 1940s, the Park River has been buried beneath downtown Hartford and Frederick Olmsted’s Bushnell Park (where it was once a prominent feature). In the last number of years, talk has emerged about unearthing the river and allowing it flow above-ground naturally. Is such a project feasible, how would it be constructed, and would it adversely affect the flood patterns of the area?

More broadly, is the ACOE prepared to get in the business of restoring natural waterways that it had once buried or diverted?

Thank you!

]]>By: JohnnyEhttp://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/comment-page-1/#comment-573933
Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:12:52 +0000http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/30/ask-an-army-colonel/#comment-573933I worked on several COE projects 35 years ago in the NY region, mostly surveys for beach replenishment. The COE hired the company I worked for.

What is being done to stop development in hazardous areas like beach shorelines? What is being done to preserve wetlands? I know Bush redefined wetlands which opened them up for more development.

Why should taxpayers get stuck paying for protecting houses that are built too close to the water like in the Hamptons? Should jetties and groins be removed so that the normal flow of sand is restored to maintain our beaches?

Back 35 years ago the big dredging companies were complaining because the Corps operated some of their own dredges to maintain waterways. Which is more cost effective, doing the job in-house or contracting it out?

What is being done to protect submerged cultural resources in the NY area?

I read that during the last administration there was a Presidential Commission coming up with a comprehensive plan to address the problems of levees, flooding, wetlands, agricultural runoff, etc. of the Mississippi Basin. Instead of individual locally funded levee projects that interfered with other ones upstream and downstream causing cities to flood, there was a a desire to coordinate the efforts which would save money and solve the problem, ie. where to divert the water during a flood so it would do the least damage. Is Congress acting on that?